The Harold Hopkins Society has been formed to ensure that the name of one of Britain's most innovative scientists of modern times is not forgotten. We seek to gain recognition for his truly remarkable influence on a broad spectrum of people's everyday life. We wish to ensure that his memory has longevity by securing a permanent memorial to Harold H Hopkins in an appropriate location.

"Only when you try to teach something do you discover whether you truly understand it." - Harold Hopkins

Harold Horace Hopkins FRS was a British physicist whose Wave Theory of Aberrations, (published by Oxford University Press 1950), is central to all modern optical design and provides the mathematical analysis which enables the use of computers to create the wealth of high quality lenses available today. In addition to his theoretical work, many of his inventions are in daily use throughout the world including the zoom lenses, coherent fibre-optics and more recently the rod-lens endoscopes which revolutionized modern key-hole surgery.

He received many of the world's most prestigious awards and was twice nominated for a Nobel Prize. His citation on receiving the Rumford Medal from the Royal Society in 1984 stated: "In recognition of his many contributions to the theory and design of optical instruments, especially of a wide variety of important new medical instruments which have made a major contribution to clinical diagnosis and surgery"